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Eed Cabbage Pickle

A pickled red cabbage preserved in a brine of water, salt, vinegar, and mixed spice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,924 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Eed Cabbage Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Brine

  1. Shred the red cabbage thinly and place it in an earthenware vessel.

  2. Make a brine with cold water and salt, and pour it over the cabbage.

  3. Let it stand for 36 hours, then strain the brine.

Dry and pickle

  1. Spread a cloth on a bench, place the cabbage on it, and cover with another cloth.

  2. Let it stay for another 36 hours.

  3. Transfer the cabbage to glass jars and fill with cold vinegar.

  4. Add 1 teaspoon of mixed spice to each 2-lb jar, or more if desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Red cabbage
Forms the bulk of the pickle and provides its crisp texture and colour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cabbage and seasons it during the brining step.
Cold vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the finished pickle.
Mixed spice
Adds aroma and warm flavour to the pickled cabbage.

The step that matters

Straining the brine and drying the cabbage. Cabbage left wet or in too little salt can soften and spoil; removing excess liquid before adding vinegar helps the cabbage stay crisp and the pickle keep well.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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